Opeecli .The Uliti'cc-il 
IssLces fairly stated. 187i, 




I 



-A 



1 r 



THE POLITICA L ISSti'ES F AIRLY STATED. 

MR. CONKLING'S COOPER INSTITUTE SPEECH REVIEWED AND HIS MISSTATEMENTS 

CORRECTED. 



SPEECH 

OF '■"■^;^' 

HON. E. E. EENTON 



PREWSBURG, NEW YORK, 

(his hative place,) 

On Sat-arday, October 12, 1872. 



Fellow-Citizens : I will not appropriate this 
Warm reception as a personal compliment grow- 
ing out of my residence in your midst from child- 
hood until a few years ago, or to other personal 
considerations, but to your interest in that great 
political movement of the people with which I 
I am identified. I heartily thank you, however, 
for it. My purpose in coming here is for kind 
and '^cnsiderate discussion of our political con- 
dition, free as possible from passion and preju- 
dice. Let us try and reason together in the hope 
that we will see more clearly the path of duty, 
and thus more wisely discharge our obligations 
at the ballot-box as faithful citizens of the re- 
public. Every four years we are called upon to 
consider, with renewed interest, men and meas- 
ures affei^ting the administration of our national 
affairs. But few of these recurring periods, look- 
ing to the reputation of the Government and the 
welfare of the people, have been, in my judg- 
ment, more important than this; none have been 
more interesting to those who, like myself, are 
in revolt from a besotted political organization, 
'. .f which the people are weary. In plain terms, 
our movement is from a corrupt and effete politi- 
cal party on the part of Republicans, and from 
untenable and unprofitable past political contro- 
versy on the part of Democrats. With some, 
who are out of oiBce, no doubt a knowledge of 
thj fact that the only way to get in is to fight 
their way in, has its weidit; but the great body 
of the people are moved hy higher, broader, and 
jobler considerations. So it is neither the ten 
thousand Liberal Republicans who assembled at 
Cincinnati the 1st of May, nor the large numbers 
they represented, to any great extent expected 
f>r desired office. The same is true of the great 
'...ody of the Democratic party whose representa- 
tives subsequently gathered at Baltimore. It 
required self-denial and courage to break away 
from pai'-v associates and power on the one side, 
and abandon the traditions of party action and 
the prejudices of men on the other. The two 
united are a patriotic force, impelled by a sincere 
and single desire to promote good politics and 
honesty in public affairs. 

WHAT IT MEAirS. 

It means that there is an earnest and devoted 
purpose on the part of tl|^ people for Reform 
and Purity of Government, Civil Service Reform, 



a correction of the abuses in administrative 
affairs, and escape from the mischievous person- 
alisra in the Executive of the nation, and an 
avoidance of blunders in our foreign policy. It 
means, too, that the great leading objects of the 
Republican party have been accomplished; that 
there is no longer any opposition to those objects, 
and that there is sometning better than to fight 
old battles over again. It means, also, that it is 
important to effect a complete reconciliation be- 
tween theNorth and the South. Those two sections 
of our common country have been in bitter hos- 
tility against each other for more than a quarter 
of a century, growing out of the question of human 
slavery. It is now over eleven years since this 
hostility ripened into bloody strife. But the re- 
bellion has been overthrown and its cause de- 
stroyed by force of arms upon the battle-field, 
and its reappearance made impossible by an 
amendment to the constitution. Since then Im- 
partial Suffrage has been secured : civil and politi- 
cal equality established -as a principle of the Gov- 
ernment ; the National debt has been guaranteed 
and the payment of the rebel debt prohibited by 
another amendment to the constitution. All the 
old obstacles to peace and fraternity have, one by 
one, been removed. To effect, then, a coiai- 
escape from demoralization and misiui^ 
return to friendship and fraternal rega 
mission of the masses of the people vhu uav^ 
engaged in the support of Greeley and Brown. 

PATEIOTISM AND SUCCESS. 

Can it be that a movement based upon such 
gro'.nds is otherwise than unselfish and patri- 
otic . But few will doubt its final success when 
the great founders of the Republican party, like 
Greeley, Sumner, Curtin, Trumbull, Schurz, and 
Governor Blair, and a host of others, rank and 
file, are engaged in its support, joined by ninety- 
nine one-hundredths of the great Democratic 
party. It is not confined to your own town, or 
county, or State; but it has a firm foundation in 
every town, every county, and every State of 
our great country. Upon every hill and in 
every -yalley, among the toilers in every pur- 
suit, in every trade, in every profession, and 
among all classes and conditions of men, you 
will find this movement has an earnest and vig- 
orous support. The great majorities of all par- 
ties are patriotic and honest, and have no blind 



2 



attachment or nnreasobing devotion to party or- 

f;anizatioii. They only adhere to it so far and so 
ong as, by it and through it, the higher and bet- 
ter interests of their country are subserved. When 
party ceases to be an agency for promoting the 
general good, the people cast it aside is a worn- 
out garment. All along the pathway of our his- 
tory we see the wreck and the rubbish of worn- 
out and decayed organizations, and the rise, 
progress, and triumph of new political associa- 
tioud. It began at the close of John Adams's 
administration, and it will not end with the re- 
markable revolution within your own experience 
in iS5(3 and 1860, which resulted in the accession 
of the new Republican party to power. It is a 
mistake to suppose that the people do not readily 
compreliend the principles involved in our fierce 
political conflicts. They are alike sure in the 
end to solve every question of government cor- 
rectly, and to supply every needed reform and 
security. 

LET us HAVE PEACE, 

Thus four years ago no declaration of General 
Grant received more hearty acceptance from all 
parties tlian the one " Let us have peace." What 
a grand opportunity was before him ! The whole 
people were weary, and desired repose, and the 
rrerfident had only to act upon the great princi- 
ple of humanity and progress to have revived a 
frieudly feeling between the sections, and to have 
averted the reign of rings and wrongs which 
fastwnud upon us. Instead of peace, however, 
we have had continued sectional strife; instead 
of friendship, wo have had continued hatred and 
bitterness among the people; instead of a return 
to the normal condition of civil administration, 
we have had subordination of civil to military 
rule, and federal encroachment upon local and 
"reserved rights ; instead of aiding to restore the 
wasted energies of the South, there has been a 
coniinued fostering of irresponsible and extrava- 

fant government, which has increased the bur- 
ens of the people. In a word, instead of an 
administration in the interests of the whole peo- 
ple, there has been a greater degree of partisan 
control and despotism of party action than ever 
before. Not only do we now v/itness the absence 
of a;i entire Cabinet from their official duties, en- 
gager in an attempt to prolong the power of 
themselv..-; and their chief, but we see the vast 
army of office-holders, from the highest to the 
lowest, banded together in unusual and extra- 
ordinary partisan strife. These office-holders 
obey the word of command of their chief with as 
much alacrity and with as complete subjection 
to discipline as ever the same number of men 
displayed under the same chief upon the battle- 
field. Instead of devoting themselves to your 
interest, and performing their duties as your ser- 
vants, they oinploy time and money belonging 
to you, not in the promotion of public interest, 
but of party ends. Indeed, they are told that 
"one good term deserves another," and while 
they are led forward by the promise that they 
shall be continued in office if they succeed in re- 
electing their chief, they dare not hesitate, except 
at the hazard of losing their official heads. The 
doctrine has long been practiced that "to the 
victors belong the spoils of the vanquished," but 
this is the first administration under our Govern- 



ment wheh th& fehtire federal officfe-holding in- 
terest of the country was perverted to mere par- 
tisan purposes, and employed as one man to 
control primaries, carry conventions, and to 
waste the money and the time which is yours, 
to perpetuate the power of a single person. 

PERSONAL ATTACKS. 

I speak in no personal unkindness of any one. 
The cause of politics and country is neither to 
be long impaired nor built up by personal detrac- 
tion and slander. The isstJes of this canvass will 
live long after the unjust assaults upon individ- 
uals have passed away and been forgotten. I 
venture upon one word concerning myself, be- 
cause of the freedom I feel with life-long ac- 
quaintances and friends. I have recently seen 
in the campaign edition of the New York Times 
a wanton and unjustifiable attack upon myself, 
in which there is not one word of truth, so far 
sm it reflects upon me discredit or dishonor. In- 
deed there is no essential fact in the whole arti- 
cle except that I was, in my eighteenth year, in 
the Albany jail from Saturday night to Monday 
morning, upon wholly mistaken grounds, as was 
well known, and nowhere better than in this 
village where I was born and have lived until 
eight years ago, and almost in sight of which I 
still reside. One perf?on who seems to take pleas- 
ure in circulating these untruths, as if to give 
point to possible prejudice, makes another state- 
ment equally false in regard to my acquired 
wealth. Charges of this character are frequently 
made and oftentimes with seeming particularity. 
(Some one interrupting, " IIow about Governor 
Morgan and Central Railroad transactions?)' 
You may not all recollect, but I suppose some of 
you do, that Hon. Andrew J. Colvin, State Sen- 
ator from Albany county, from his place in the 
Senate, in the winter of 18G1, charged that Gov- 
ernor Morgan made fully $200,000 by the mari- 
ipulation of railroad interests in the Central 
Railroad consolidation scheme in 1853, while ho *** 
(Morgan) was State Senator from the city of New 
York. I know nothing of the truth of this 
charge, but I will state to you that I was worth 
as much when I left my private business and 
engaged wholly in public employment, in 185S, 
as at any time since, and that I was not then, 
nor have been at any time, worth this sum of 
$200,000, which it is alleged Governor Morgan 
made in that single transaction. Nor have I 
been at any time worth as much, all told, as it 
is reported that my colleague, Mr. Conkling, has 
made during Ins five years of senatorial service. 
However, let all this pass, as affecting neither 
favorably nor a<lversely the great issues of this 
canvass. I neither charge nor allege anything 
dishonorable in the public conduct of ray prede- 
cessor or colleague in the Senate — and only ex- 
press my regret that the latter, in his recent visit 
to this section, d^^omed it worth while in personal 
intercourse to indulge in mean insinuations and 
filthy slander respecting myself. Now to his 
public utterances. 

SENATOR CONKLING's COOPER INSTITUTE SPEECH. 

There have been some three or four published 
versions of my colleague's Cooper Institute 
speech of July 23, but I hav.e in my hand ihe 
pamphlet copy order#l to bo printed in Utica, 



i::;'... where he resides. This and the Washington 

" version of the same speech have served a double 
purpose, as has been seen in their extensive cir- 
culation, and in the capital they have furnished 
for all lais subsequent speeches. I pass over 
those remarkable letters of young Grant, which, 
although defective in geographical and historical 

-V allusions, exhibit alike Mfouderful precocity in 
v;''the author and wonderful research in their dis- 
coverer. Nor will I dwell upon what is said 
about gift-taking on the 9th page, nor nepotism 
on the 20th. I simply remark of the former 
tha.t if the one-tenth part of what is alleged is 
true, it is no more than was sufficient to strip 
the judicial robes from Lord Chief Justice Ba- 
con, and to bring unforgotten reproach upon at 
least one person in ofhcial life in our own coun- 
try within the present generation. I hardly 
need say of the latter, that the practice was 
stoutly resisted and even condemned by our 
'Earlier Presidents, and I trust, in the providence 
of God, that it will be by all who follow the 
present incumbent. It is not creditable to the 
Chief Magistrate of the Republic. 

SAN DOMINGO. 

In turning over the pages of this document, I 
come to the Senator's defense of the President in 
the San Domingo matter. I will not stop to in- 
quire whether the President was warranted in 
negotiating the treaty through his aid-de-camp, 
or whether the treaty was in itself desirable. 
That was a question primarily for the Senate, 
and upon which its action should have been en- 
tirely free and untrammeled. As an independ- 
ent and co-ordinate part of the treaty-making 
power, it should have been free to exercise its 
own unfettered judgment. When this freedom 
is lost, you will agree with me that the whole 
purpose of the Senate's participation is nullified, 
and any further deliberation upon its part is a 
barren mockery. When, therefore, the Presi- 
dent resorted to the extraordinary proceeding of 
appearing at the Capitol and using his personal 
influence for the treaty — when it was given out 
through executive sources that the enjoyment of 
influence in the distribution of patronage lie- 
pended upon a support of the treaty — the Presi- 
dent made an attempt alike obtrusive, degrading, 
^nd dangerous. I speak from personal observa- 
tion, and from a knowledge of the extraordinary 
means adopted in behalf of the ill-gotten scheme. 
Tell me, my friends, was not the personal effort 
and influence employed to secure a ratification 
of the treaty equivalent to putting a constraint 
upon the Senate? So it is that Senators, justly 
jealous of any invasion of the fundamental prin- 
ciples of government, might, even if disposed to 
favor the treaty, well resent this glaring instance 
of new and unwarranted usurpation on the part 
of the President. It will not suffice for my col- 
league to attempt to palliate this unusual con- 
auct, or excuse it on the ground of the President's 
subsequent withdrawal from the undertaking, for 
it will be remembered with what pertinacity he 
pressed it during the Senate session in the winter 
and spring of 1870; how Senators opposing it 
were punished by the removal of their friends 
from office, and refusal to give further political 
consideration to them, or to heed their sugges- 
tions or advice in any matter. It will also* be 



remembered that the President returned to the 

work with fresh vigor at the beginning of the 
next session of Congress. Turn to his annual 
message, December 5, 1870, in which he puts 
forth the remarkable assumption that the acquisi- 
tion of San Domingo would aid us in p.aying our 
great national debt, and then proceeds to lecture 
the Senate for "the folly of rejecting so great a 
prize." But even this argument, without a basis, 
and this lecture, without a paralled in the con- 
duct of American Presidents, failed to change the 
mind »f some Senators, whose votes were neces- 
sary, or to convince the American people that 
either the t'hing itself or the means employed 
was desirable. Not, however, until months*iliere- 
after, and when it became apparent that the judg- 
ment of the country in opposition was fixed and 
irreversible, came that great change in the Pres- 
ident of which ray colleague speaks. The con- 
cession was pretty late, and there are some who 
still think that the message wherein he says "I 
hand over the whole maltier to the judgment of 
the American people," and over which my col- 
league grows eloquent, was the result ^:f tlieir 
will already manifest and in numerous ways 
expressed, whioh -the senatorial advisers of the 
President felt sure it would no longer do to 
oppose or attempt to resist. 

ATTEMPT TO MISLEAD. 

My colleague again returns to personal dis- 
putation, in which it must be confessed lie has 
great versatility and practice. He says: "For 
some time before the inauguration of President 
Grant, as well as afterward, one Senator from 
New York visited the President assiduously, and 
claimed to be his special champion ; the other 
Senator did neither of these things. One Sena- 
tor conspicuously busied himself in the effort to 
repeal ' The Tenure of Office Act,' which the 
President was said to wish to have repealed ; the 
other Senator opposed the repeal throughout. 
One Senator appeared as the confidential repre- 
sentative of Mr. Stewart, in roganl to hi •, c-nter- 
ing upon the office of Secretary of the T; ^aoury ; 
the other Senator opposed the whole pror..ct of 
repealing or evading the law, and so told the P'-p" 
ident." Now, the first assertion ma'^ 
himself, it is not of me ; but it is intei. 
lead, as also what he says of my pO: 
the proposition to repeal the tenure ■ 
was made. There is an old Latin pi . 
is accepted as a legal maxim: "fal8Ui> m ujio, 
fahus in 07nnibus." Let me turn to the v.,i>ord. 
At once, following the inauguration of General 
Grant, March 4, 1S69, he desired the repeal of 
this law.^nd the proposition was made in the 
Senate to that end. On the 10th of March, ui the 
discussion which took place, my colleague said : 

I agree that some radical change should be made 
in this law; either dispen.sing with it altogeihor, or 
dispensing with it daring the e.xi.stenee of the present 
Administration, or repealing it absohitely. * :>= * 

I wish, therefore, to be understood by my lionora- 
ble friend from Indiana, as well as others, that 1 am 
in favor of the early consideration, and the tliuroagh 
eon.sideration, of this law, so as to remove from the 
path of the E.xecutive every hindrance sucii as has 
beoa refeiTed to. ■ . i,. . . ■■■ . ••■•/ 

It is true, then, that "one Senator conspicu- 
ously busied himself in the oflbrt to repeal," &c., 
while the other did not ; yet the truth was not 



4 



intendod, but rather a misrepresentation, ajlike 
premeditated and unjust. 

Proud of the association, and happy to he 
known as the friend of Mr. A. T. Stewart, it is 
not true, however, that I appeared as the confi- 
dential representative in regard to his entering 
upon the office of Secretary of the Treasury ; nor 
have. I good reason to believe that my colleague 
"opposed the whole project of repealing the law, 
and so told the President." I am pretty sure hs 
kept silent, taking note of the new political coup 
d'etafs which appeared in unusual, varied, and 
startling succession. In fact, his own statement, 
as fouacl on the 11th page of his pamphlet, seems 
to contradict hiln ; so i here give Mr. Conkling 
vs. Mr. Conkling: 

Several old statutes forbid importers to hold such 
places, and upon llie President's attention being 
called to this, he submitted to theSentite a suggestion 
that the law be so changed as to allow Mr. Stewart to 
act as Secretary of the Treasurj'. When he reflected 
on the subject, however, the President did what no 
small man could have done. He saw the error: he 
did not say the Senate was as much to blame a'< ho 
was, or as ignorant as he was, or that the Senate, hav- 
ing confirmed Mr. Stewart, must reconsider its ac- 
tion, or share the re.sponsibility of getting out of the 
predicament; but he took the whole blame himself. 
He said, "This is my mistake, I will correct it." 

But I hasten on to where my colleague seeks 
to justify the extraordinary course of the Presi- 
dent in our New York politics in the following 
language: "Among those selected for office were 
several persons whose unfitness soon ended in 
disgrace." My colleague may refer to Mr. Law- 
rence, Pension Agent; but this appointment was 
not of my seeking. He may refer to Mr. Bailey, 
Collector of Internal Revenue; but his appoint- 
ment was not upon my recommendation ; and as 
a member of tne Senate finance Committee, 
which had his case under consideration, I came 
to his support, somewhat tardily, but at last 
cheerfully, after the emphatic indorsement of Mr. 
George (indj'ke and Jackson S. Schnltz in letters 
addressed to me, and the commendation of oth- 
ers, lilcewise well and favorably known to me. 
Then he may refer to the recent collector of (he 
port of New York, but it will be difficult to make 
any one believe tliat I favored his appointment. 
I bring to mind now no one recommended by me 
of the character to which my colleague refers, so 
that I must think he was again himself misled, 
or that he intended to mislead others. 

Certainlj- no one, to my knowledge, has been 
discharged for official delinquency — no one has 
fled the country to escape the penalty of law for 
official misconduct, and no one has been forced 
to retire fro'ui office through an indignant public 
demand. But he further says, in washing iiis 
hands of all participation in appointments to of- 
fice, that he does know of one case where a friend 
of Mr. Fenton's was called to give vrny, viz, Mr. 
A. H. Laflin, for naval officer; but even this was 
asked by "members of Congress and Senators 
from other States." My colleague has singular 
felicity in accomplishing by indirection what ho 
prefers not to do directly, and it may be in be- 
nalf of Mr. Laflin also, who had been his most 
supple and waiting friend, that ho invoked con- 
venient indorsement of distant friends. Of course, 
all my colleague lays about not seeking or favor- 
ing appointments to office is simple evasion of 
facts or misstatement to which I regret that he 



felt compelled to resort. I have often stated in 
the Senate and out of the Senate, that there was 
no controversy on my part growing out of ap- 
pointments to office; that it was oi very little 
consequence who held the offices, so that they 
were good men, capable of performing tlieir du- 
ties, and faithful in discharging them. I had, to 
be sure, deplored the course of the President to- 
wards a portion of the party, and in one case 
deemed it my duty to oppose the confirmation of 
one of his appointees. 

It seemed to me that the intermeddling of tho 
President in State politics, as illustrated in va- 
rious ways, was unfortunate and unwise. Take 
the case of Missouri. The controversy that arose 
in that State should have suggested to a prudent 
and sagacious Executive the necessity for the 
most delicate treatment. It is immaterial now 
to consider the intrinsic merits of the division. 
It is enough to know that the party in that State 
was divided into two great elements upon an im- 
portant question of public policy. That among 
those who were placed in the attitude of opposi- 
tion to regularity, were the leading journals and 
th» leading representatives of the party ; that 
the measure for which they contended had the 
sanction of the National Convention in the plat- 
form upon which the President himself was 
elected. Whether mistaken or not, a movement 
of such magnitude could not safely be treated 
like a minor bolt. A prudent man would have 
attempted to heal the breach. Least of ail could 
the firebrand of an attempt to control the decis- 
ion from the White House at Wasliington be 
thrown in to inflame the contest. The whole 
controversy was exceptional and treading, as it 
did, the cage of questions purely fraternal and 
just, should have warned the President against 
arbitrary interference. He was, in some sense, 
the representative of the party, and his inter- 
meddling could have no other efi"ect than that of 
embittering the contest and invoking upon him- 
self and the organization some measure of the 
feeling which should have been confined to the 
bounds of the Sate. A more foolish rushing upon 
an ill-judged and reckless policy it is difficult 
to conceive, unless we turn to the course pursued 
in our own State. 

INTERMEDDLINa IN NEW YORK. 

If possible, here it was still more infatuated 
and destructive. In Missouri the party was pro- 
scribed for co-operating with Democrats. In 
New York, at the same hour, tiie party was pro- 
scribed for not co-operating with Democrats. Iq 
Missouri the maintenance of tlie party organiza- 
tion in the customary method was regarded as 
the only salvation. In New York the mainte- 
nance of the part)' organization was treated as a 
crime. The most useful, faithful, and honorable 
members of the party were proscribed, and the 
influence of the Administration employed to 
crush them out or to degrade them. Primaries 
were controlled, conventions carried, and legia- 
latures organized through the influence of fede- 
ral patronage and the wanton exercise of federal 
power. One of the most important and influen- 
tial positions in the State was given to, one v/ha 
had openly trampled upon party usage, and 
whose questionable practices during our late gi- 
gantic civil war had not been entirely concealed. 



n5 



But here let me quote my colleague in regard to 
' this appointment. In speaking of Mr. Murphy, 
-he says: 

He has been held up as a scoundrel, yet the records 
conclusively prove th.'it he increased the "Collection of 
revenue and diminished the percentage of cost. No 
act of dishonesty has, to my knowledge, ever been 
proved against him. 

This is what the President said at the time he 
(Murphy) left the office of collector, the 30th of 
November, 1871. You remember that remark- 
able certificate of personal and oflicial character, 
and I need not read it to you. Now let us look 
at the other side a moment. I will not detain 
you with the evidence before the investigating 
commi'-.tee of last winter or the year before, wiiere- 
in Mr. Murphy confesses to a want of understand- 
ing of the plainest duties of the office — confesses 
to an attempt to control primaries, as in the case 
of paying $100 to one Bennett to thwart the elec- 
tion of Mr. Greeley as a delegate to the State 
Convention of 1871 — confesses to partnership in 
a large real estate business with Wm. M. Tweed, 
Connolly, and others of Tammany, in which the 
deed of purchase did not represent the true sum 
by nearly $300,000, thus defrauding the Govern- 
ment of its just stamp tax, and deceiving the city 
assessor of taxes. But I will only ask your at- 
tention to the concluding paragraph of the report 
of the minority of the committee, as follows: 

After what has been already shown, no one will be 
surprised to know of any gross carelessness in the 
transaction of business in the custom-house. It is 
•proved by the naval officer, Mr. A. H. Laflin, who was 
■a witness, that the errors made in the liquidation of 
duties in the collector's department amounted, in 
eight months, from June, 1871, to February, 1872, in a 
single division, to a million of dollars." 

And whether confessing or not, much more, of 
% character discreditable in the transactions of 
that department under Mr. Murphy, were shown 
in the testimony, of which the sworn statement 
of Mr. Wm. E. Dodge is perhaps themost striking- 
and significant. A word about the economy of 
Mr. Murphy's administration, which the Presi- 
dent and Mr. Conkling have commended. The 
cost of collecting the customs revenue at New 
York from March 31, 1869, to June 30, 1870, a 
period of fifteen months, by Mr. Grinnell, and 
from July 31, 1870, to October 31, 1871, a like 
period, by Mr. Murphy, is as follows: 

Total expenditure under Mr. Grinnell, ex- 
clusive of fees collected $2,629,368 31 

Fees collected and expended in addition 252,125 30 



$2,881,493 07 
Expended under Mr. Murphy, 

exclusive of fees collected, $2,759,353 34 
Fees collected and expended 

in addition 260,297 59 

Amount expended for fuel, 

gasli^^lu. water supply, and 

stationery, not charged to 

Mr. Murphy's account, but 

included in Mr. Grinnell'a 

for (lie previous coi'rc- 

sporiding period, say $55,000 

a year „ 68,750 00 ?3,088,40O 93 



Difference in favor of Mr. Grinnell $200,907 26 

I have not included something over thirty 
thousand dollars, the credit of saving which is 
wholly duo to the Secretary of the Treasury in 
the letting of the labor contract, about the time 
of Mr. Mufphy's accession to the office of collec- 
tor. This item would swell tlie difference to about 
two hundred and thirty-seven thousand dollars. 



That is to say, it cost this amount more to collect 
the revenue by Mr. Murphy, than for the corre- 
sponding period b}^ Mr. Grinnell, an excess of ex- 
penditure not easily explained upon any theory 
applicable to economy in the public service. 

LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT. 

But you will see from a perusal of this speech 
of my colleague that he speaks of a letter ad- 
dressed to the President, alluding to my aspira- 
tions for the Presidency in 1872, and offering to 
withdraw, &c., " providing agreeable understand- 
ing could be had in regard to patronage." (See 
26th page of his speech, which I have before me.) 
I supjiose he refers to me ; and, as I wrote the 
President one letter touching political matters, 
I will be pardoned for giving it to the public 
now and here. It will be seen that this letter 
was written from my own home, when I was 
called from Washington for a few days, and just 
previous to the appointment of Thomas' Murphy 
to the office of collector, which appointment it 
was the object of this letter to avert; 

Jamestown, June 7, ISTO. 

Peestdent Grakt: A sense of duty to you, as well as 
justice to myself, impels me to address you a few earli- 
est and sincere words. 

My entrance into the Senate was contemporaneous 
with your own accession to the Presidency. You can- 
not be unmindful of the friendly character of the 
action which had previously taken place. The early 
State Convention of 1SG8 encountered objections from 
some sources, but it was tlie first authoritative expres- 
sion of party sentiment upon the approaching Presi- 
dential nomination, and the forma! initiation of the 
compaign. And so, since I took my seat, to which I 
was selected ' by thd representatives of the party 
chosen at the same election with yourself, I have 
given your Administration a cordial and sincere sup- 
port. Regarding it as the official organ and head of 
our party, I have been governed in this coarse, not 
less by a sense of obligation tlian by personal friend- 
ship. In such views as I have had "tlie honor to sub- 
mit, while in respect to port>ons necessarily indicating 
preferences, I have not traduced members of the or- 
ganization to which we owe a common allegiance, or 
asked you to listen to words of discouragement con? 
cerning any with whom our cause requires us to co- 
operate. Knowing, as I feel I do, the sentiments and 
impulses of the Republican party of New York, I have 
sought faithfully to represent it, without aggruvating 
differences or promoting dissensions. While mysell 
the objectof continued assault, I have abstained fron; 
recriminations. Such advice as I have veuture.d to 
offer has been tendered in this spirit, in the firm iV.itU 
that mutual forbearance would strengthen our cansd. 

I cannot, however, be insensible to some cvider, ii> 
that the President mistakes he spirit of my cour.m^, 
and seriously considers steps, which I am sure cou! ' 
not have been contemplated, except through a grea^ 
degree of misapprehension. You will permit me to 
indicate the policy commonly reported with reference 
to the New York collectorship (Mr. iMurjjhy's jiossible 
appointment) as an illustration of my meaning. Ear- 
nestly desirous as I have been to contril'ite my hum- 
ble aid to the strengthening of the adn'i'inistration, I 
should regjret a line of action that would preclude me 
from offering suggestions because of aconviction that 
they were unacceptable. Yet candor compels rao to 
say, I should deplore it chiefly becau.se I could not but 
regard it as prejudicial to our party interests. 

With renewed expressions of my regard, I remain, 
very respectfully, R. E. Fenton. 

Do you see anything in this that looks like 
personal aspirations for the presidency, to a com- 
promise upon patronage, &c. ? What does my 
colleague mean by these repeated misrepresenta- 
tions, unle.ss it be to place me in a false light' 
before the people of my State and the country ? 

STATE CONVENTIONS. 

My colleague is not done, for further on you 
will see he refers to the State conventions of 



36 



1870 and 1871, and says, " Herculean effort " was 
made to carry them, <kc., meaning hy myself and 
friends. I have often heard it stated that persons 
well practiced in arson and burglary, frequently 
resort to deceptive alarms in order the better to 
escape detection themselves. One instance at 
Saratoga in 1870 will serve to illustrate the 
means employed to gain control of the conven- 
tion by Mr. Conkling and the New York custom- 
house interest. One delegation, sixteen in num- 
ber, were supposed to be somewhat unreliable, so 
the collector of the port in the city aud county 
of this delegation was threatehe'd with instant 
removal from oiBce (it had even been determined 
upon) if the delegation did not in the organiza- 
tion of the convention, auti-Fenton. They did 
solidly so vote, and a telegram went forward to 
Washington with the names of Messrs. Conkling 
and Murphy attached, as I am reliably informed, 
Eaying, in effect, "he must not be removed — he 
has done his duty." 

It is well known that the most lavish display 
of federal patronage was brought to bear ujion 
the convention at Syracuse in 1871. I have be- 
fore me the names of seventy-five federal office- 
holders, embracing the leading and active officials 
from New York city to Chautauqua, who were 
present and making earnest efforts to secure the 
convention in the interest of Messrs. Murphy and 
Conkling, regardless of party harmony and unity. 
The dictatorial and offensive rejection by a Uni- 
ted States Senator who was a delegate in the con- 
vention, of a conciliatory proposition, will not 
Boon be forgotten. 

STATE CANVASS OF 1870. 

It will be seen from the prolific speech of my 
colleague, on the 27th page, that he charges me 
with indifference in the canvass of 1870, and says 
I absented myself froin the State most of the 
time, returning late in October only to make a 
discouraging speech, " casting a wet blanket on 
the canvass." Now to the facts. I was at home 
during most of the canvass, only absent from the 
State pcven days in, all. Let me read a portion 
of the speech as reported, from which he gave a 
disjoined extract, and see whether it is justly 
offensive to the charge of indifference and dis- 
loyalty: 

He spoke of the importance of the campaign in 
which we, nre now engaijecl and whicli is i'o s<nou to 
close, and deeim^d it for'nnfite tliat onr friends had 
been alilf to free themselves in some measure of the 
harsliuess whitdi comes from personal aspirations, 
tl)us disappointing the hopes of the adversHry, and 
givinj' a-r'>ateras.«nnmcPof .'iiicoesp. He had regretted 
the divisions in this dis'rict. Troubles came upon 
us unfortunately in other districts, and now, in the 
city of New York, our parly are in confusion and dis- 
couragement, growing out of srmie unfortunate fed- 
eral appointments. It is to be hoped that these diffi- 
culties may I'ully and entirely disappear. If liis voice 
could be heard in every Vrtlle3' and upon every hill, in 
country, town, and city, it would bo to invoke a spirit 
of mutual forbearance and harmony, as in the ss.nie 
(Jegree, if its influence should prevail, our cause vvt .'dd 
be pri-imoted. He then spoke, in terms of hearty ap- 
proval of the St.Ttc ticket, and paid a higli coiiipli- 
meiit to General Woodford, who was assoeiated wi'h 
bim two years in the adiniuistratiou of titute atfuirs. 

. There ia,.then, no truth. in the statetn;ent> that 
Governor Fenton "was absenting himself from 
the State much of the time," and I need not ask 
ff there is anything in these remarks to justify 
any person in the assertion of neglect of the can- 



vass and indifference to the result. You answer^ 
"No, it is pure invention." 

I turn from that portion of a controversy 
forced upon me, which I admit is inapplicable 
in a great measure to the present canvass. In 
view of what Mr. Conkling has said on the one 
side, and what I have shown on the other, you 
will not be surprised that Mr, Trumbull, in a 
recent speech, referring to some statement from 
the same source touching himself, deemed the 
terse expression of Colonel Benton, where he 
said of another whom the record convicted of 
falsehood, "he is a oertifiaated liar," as ndt 
wholly inapplicable. Senator Trumbull illus- 
trated the case bj^ record evidence, as yon will 
see by reference to his speech of Jul}' 29th, at 
Chicago. 

absenteeism; from the capital. 

Again my colleague says "during ten or twelve 
weeks of heat and fever and ague at Washington 
his family (the President's) go to a cottage at the 
sea side, and he goes and comes from there to 
the Capital." This may be best, as my colleague 
seems to think. Certainly it is not wrong for 
the President and his Cabinet, like oth'^r people, 
to seek a few days recreation and rest from labor, 
whether upon the sea side or elsewhere. But 
for the practice which has obtained, of leaving 
the whole machinery of Government in tlie hands 
of subordinates for many months each year, 
there is no apology. Our interests are too vast, 
our people too numerous, our commerce too ex- 
tended, our debt too large, our system of collec- 
tion and disbursement, amounting to UL-arly 
$800,000,000 annually, too liable to abuse and 
defalcation, and our laws and our iniercoursoi, 
foreign and domestic, too intimately connected 
with our security, stability, and welfare, to war* 
rant such indifference and neglect on the ];art ol 
those the people invest with these high trusts. 
Let me give the record of absences from the seat 
of Government from Spring to Fall in 1871 : 

President, U. S. Grant VM days^ 

Secretary, Geo. S. Boutwell V;) " 

W. W. Relknap : ' ' •SS ' '" 

" Cohunbus Delano 86..?*.- 

G. W. Robeson „, 114 ,« 

" Ilainilton Fisli ^H " 

Attorney General, A. T. Akerman K2 " 

Postmaster General, J. A.,J. Oreawell. ........ «G " 

Then the present year, the day after the ad' 
journment of Congress, on the 11th daj^ of Juno, 
your may have seen in the telegraj>hic reports 
from Washington to the press of the country 
something like this: "No cabinet meeting to'-day, 
owing to the absence of the Presidcut. The 
President, accompanied by Mrs. Grant, Mr. Dent, 
(father of Mrs. Grant,) young Jesse Dent Grant, 
(son of the President,) and Baine Dent, (son of 
Judge Dent,) left this morning on the 8 o'clock 
train for Long Branch. Gen. Porter, Private 
Secretary of the President, left for Long Branch 
several days ago, to prepare the President's cottage 
for his- "■^'ceptiori. Secretary Boutwell J^:!-' gone 
to lii.s, home atGroton, Massachusetts, and Secre- 
tarw-};;,'-"! left the city last evening for hi? home 
onrl,'.^ Hudson. Secretary Belknap will not re- 
turn until after thfe examination at West Point. 
Secretary Delano, who has just returned from a 
two months' tour in the West, i". r.o .v in the city; 
and Attorney General Williams, who has been 



away for four weeks past in Oregon, is expected 
to return soon." How much these officials have 
been absent from Washington in all the present 
season I do not know, but I submit that the 
people have a right to demand closer attention. 
With the inattention and irregularity incident to 
such frequent and long-continued absence, is it 
any wonder that great abuses creep into almost 
every department of the Government, and defal- 
catiotis great and small occur from time to time? 
How much money the people have lost by fraud 
and defalcation I cannot say. The amount in- 
volved is not in all cases known, but so far as 
ascertained it reached the sum of $3,194,247 in 
tbe different departments some time ago. My 
colleague may excuse all this, but I cannot, and 
I do not believe the people will. 

FINANCIAL MISSTATEMENTS. 

I am not done with the speech of my colleague, 
for at last I have come to the 33d and 34th pages 
of his pamphlet, where he leaves the field of per- 
sonal warfare to discuss the financial achieve- 
ments of the present Administration. The first 
6t9.tement that arrests tlie attention is that " dur- 
ing Andrew Johnson's administration the whole 
reduction of the public debt was $13,055,660." In 
the face of record evidence within the reach of all, 
it is strange that any intelligent person should 
have made this statement. In a word, then, let 
me confront my colleague witli a statement as 
found in the report of the Secretary of the Treas- 
ury, December, 1868, as follows: 

It i.s thus shown, that within a period of three years 
and seven months $fi30,4,'<l,125 were paid on dehts which 
were actually duo at the close of the war and for boun- 
ties, v.'hieli, like the pay of the army, were a part of the 
expin.?es of the war. Adding the amount thus paid to 
thedeljt as exhibited by the liooks of the Treasury on 
the Istday of April, 18GS, it appears that the debt of the 
tlnited States at that time was S2,907,'>8ri,203, and that 
the actual reduction sinoe has been $^170,256,6.50, and 
hut for the advances to the Pacific roads and the 
amount paid for Alaska, would have been $519,050,650. 

Mr. Boutwell joins as a witness to the fact that 
tbe actual debt of the nation was reduced by that 
administration to the extent of $470,256,650 in a 
little over three years. This is fully explained in 
a speech of his in the House of Representatives 
near the close of Mr. Johnson's term, and to be 
foirnd in the Congressional Globe, 1867 and 1868, 
part 5, pages 4296-99. This must be sufficient, 
my friends, to satisfy you that my colleague was 
mistaken, to say the least. Further on he invites 
a comparison between the year 1860 and the 
year 1871. I cannot under stand how this com- 
parison can be made to answer a purpose de- 
signed by his argument, and therefore am not at 
all disap]>ointed that the gross sum of netexpend- 
itures during those years are conveniently omit- 
ted. Permit me to supply the omis/;ion: 

In I860 (see finance report) $60,010,062 58 

In 1871 " " " 1.57,53;$,S27 58 

With these figures within reach he proceeds 
to say, "in 1860, the population being 31,443,321, 
the expenses were $1 95 for each person. In 
1871, I'opulation 38,555,933, expenses' '.tl 76 for 
each person. It will not take a moment's cal- 
culation to detect the erroneous statei>., ,, '., it is 
glaring. The truth is, making every -i.. imed 
reduction for a peace basis, wo have ?k per'' capita 
expenditure in 1871 of $2 36, wljile in 1860, 
after making 'like reductions, it did not exceed 



$1 62 for each person. Once more: He says, "In 

1859 the War Department cost $23,154,720 53;" 
in 1860 they are not given, but it is left to be 
inferred about the same amount was expended, 
while in 1871 he gives the expenditures at 
$22,376,981 28. Now, what is the fact? Ac- 
cording to the Secretary of the Treasury, (sea 
Financial Report of 1871) the true expenditures 
of the War Department were, for the fiscal year 
ending June 30, 1871, $44,080,084 95, and so it 
will be seen that with a regular army force in 

1860 of 18,114 men, it cost about $1,200 each 
soldier, and in 1871, with a force hardly 10.000 
more, it cost over $1,600 each soldier. Nor is 
this all. He says, "with new States and Terri- 
tories, with 7,000,000 more population, with 
new courts, &c., the whole excess of cost in 1871 
over 1860, was $7,282,205 28," and he then ex- 
claims, "here is an increase of thirteen per cent, 
of cost with an increase of twenty-five per cent, 
of population." Now, I ask, of what use are 
records and reports from your departments whea 
they are wholly disregarded and their facts 
utterly perverted or wholly shunned? The dif- 
ference between $60,010,062 58, in 1860, and 
$157,583,829 58 in 1871, is exactly $97,573,- 
765 00, and when you eliminate every item 
which cannot pjroperly be used in the compari- 
son, the ratio of difference is not materially 
changed. It is rather strange aritlimetic to us, 
which gives the increase of population at 25 per 
cent, during the last decade, when, by the sim- 
ple rules of addition and subtraction, as we 
were taught, it is a trifle less than twenty per 
cent. 

KU-KLUX LAW8 AND EXFOROEMENT ACTS. 

One thing more and -I have done with my 
colleague's long and labored effort. On the 35th 
page he attempts to answer tbe charge of a tend- 
ency to centralism, now so manifest in the 'sub- 
ordination of the civil to the military authority, 
and in the proposed federal interference 
with the elective franchise, and the freedom of 
person under the protection of the habeas cor- 
pus. He says, " the law," referring to the enforce- 
ment act, here spoken of, " is exactly as it exists, 
to-day." But that is begging the question. We 
say you made long and strenuous efforts and at- 
tempted a scheme of legislation as dangerous in 
its possible consequences to personal freedom as 
it was hostile to tlie genius of the Constitution 
itself. Allow me ''.o review this matter, and then, 
if you have not already made up your minds, you 
can readily determine which is right and which 
is v/rong. 

I will now recite the principal feature of the 
Ku-klux act as it originally passed, and which 
the friends of the President in the recent session 
of Congres made persistent efforts to revive and 
continue through this presidential canvass : " Un- 
lawful combinations to prevent any class of citi- 
,", ns from the exercise of their equal rights under 
t'.io Constitution, when too powerful to be quelled 
by State authority; or, when for any cause the 
State fails to quell them aijd protect the rights 
of the citizen, the parties thtis combining are de- 
clared to be in a state of rebellion against the 
Government of the United States, and during the 
continuance of such rebellion, and within the 
limits of the district which shall be under the 



9 



8way thereof, such limits to bo prescribed by pro- 
clamation, it shall be lawful for the President of 
the United States, when in his judgment the pub- 
lic safety shall require it, to suspend the privi- 
leges of the writ of habeas corpus, to the end that 
such rebellion may be overthrown." This is the 
4th section of the act, which expired by limita- 
tion with the late session of Congress. Although 
in a period of profound peace, the President and 
his senatorial supporters sought an extension of 
this extraordinary power. Senator Scott intro- 
duced a bill to extend and continue it in force in 
February last. It was not difficult to carry it 
throughthe Senate, for the senatorial managers 
were powerful and defiant; but no amount of ef- 
fort and no appliance of power could avail to 
overcome the firmness of the Hoiise of Repre- 
sentatives. 

Analogous to this was the bill introduced by 
Senator Kellogg, of Louisiana, miscalled an "act 
to enforce the aights of citizens of the United 
States to vote." Among other provisions, this 
bill authorized the appointment of an indefinite 
number of deputy marshals, and clothed them 
with authority to "take into custody, with or 
without process, any person who shall commit, or 
attempt or offer to commit, any of the acts or 
offenses prohibited by this act." In other words, 
each deputy marshal was to be made a little em- 
perator, with power to lock up a voter until after 
the polls should be closed. The "acts or oifenses 
prohibited," which authorized the marshals to 
arrest without process, and to hold in custody 
without limit as to time, are described rather 
than defined, in the following language: "And 
it shall be the duty of such special deputy to 
keep the peace, and support and protect tlie su- 
pervisors of election in the discharge of their du- 
ties, preserve order at places of registration, and 
at such polls prevent fraudulent registration and 
fraudulent voting thereat, or fraudulent conduct 
on the part of any officer of election." I suppose 
this is the first time in the history of the Eng- 
lish-speaking race when it was proposed to clothe 
an inferior ofiiccr with powers of this character. 

The avowed purpose of tlie enforcement act 
•was to protect the election of members of Con- 
gress. It was confined in its operation, as it 
became a law in 1870, to the cities having more 
than 20,000 inhabitants. This was as far as it 
was thought prudent to go at that time. It 
might then have been temerity to have gone 
into every one of the election districts of New 
York and every other State of the Union to have 
taken control of the registration and of the bal- 
lot boxes on the day of election, and to have 
conferred upon officers the authority to arrest 
voters on sight. But in 187'2 it was not thouglit 
dangerous to do it. So it was a bill was pressed 
through the Senate late the last session authoriz- 
ing the appointment of officers at every voting 
precinct or election district from New York to 
California, and from Maine to Texas, and winch 
would have placed tlie whole macliiuery of the elec- 
tions throughout the Uuitud h'tates niidor the control 
of the federal Ooverumeut. I need not speak of tlie 
violated good faith and violation of parliamentary 
usagfi in the attempt hy administration Senators to 
force this despotic aet upon the people. .\s character- 
ized by Senator TnunbuU at th.' tui.o, it was a lone; step 
toward.sthe ecntraIii;alion of jM.wer r.\ the hands of une 
man at Washington, and this man thi» caiuliJate for 
re-election to the chief magistracy of the republic. 



But this is not all. One other thing was ueeessary 
to give the federal Government full control over the 
elections and this the Senate accomplished to the 
extent of its power. And what do you think it was? 
It was a bill to take away from the citizen the p7-ivi- 
lege of appeal tt the judicial tribunals of the land for 
a vindication of his right.<s, in case the so-called depu- 
ty marshal, arbitrarily and without cause, arrested 
him and put him in prison. Without this, if men were 
unjustly arrested and unjustly put in prison, they 
might sue the marshal or they might sue the super- 
visor whose appointmi^nt was authorized. Hut it 
would not do to leave the citizen with this proteo- 
tion. What then? Simply pass a law aulhori?iiic: the 
President of the United Slates to suspend the writ 
of habeas corpus at will, as provided in Senator Scott's 
bill, and then the citizen would have no remedy. Ho 
could not go to court and through the legal trii'Mnala 
aftinn his independence from unjust federal intf>rf'er- 
enee and usurpation. In a word,' if these bills had be- 
come laws, as desired and designed, every voter in the 
land would be liable to arre.st, and denied appeal or 
other remedy. Do you not believe, fellow-eitlzens, 
with this law in operation, so many voters not in favor 
of the re-election of General Grant would have been 
arrested, or intimidated through the foar of arrest, as 
would, if needed, assure his eontinnance in power? 
liear in mind that the language employed in that act 
did not require an actual state of rebellion or invasion, 
but he, the I'resident, may, " when in his judgment the 
public safety shall require it, suspend the privilege of 
the writ of habeas corpus^ IS'ow, 1 have fairly stated 
the case, and I think you ought to join me in denounc- 
ing this attempt at wide-spread federal interference 
in the exercise of the elective franchise as an alarm- 
ing proceeding, and calculated to provoke the gravest 
apprehension. I think you will also agree with me that 
my colleague talks like one who desired to pa^a by 
the discussion of this despotic effort to exereise un- 
warranted power through specious reasoning and 
smoothly-phrased sentences. 

WHAT WE OFFEB. 

Against bad practices in Government and bad ten- 
denc3' of the party in power we present our pledge for 
reform and purity of Government, a return to safe ad- 
ministration, and peace among the people. In thelari- 
guageof our leader, we present a platform ofprinciplesL 
wherein is set forth the convictions which impelled 
and the purposes which guided us in entering upon 
this great political movement; "a platform whieh.eastv 
ing behind it the wreek and the rubbish of worn-out 
contentions and by-;»one feuds, embodies in fit and few 
word", the necls and aspirations of to-day." Is nr^tonf 
foremost candidate the" best and most distinctive type 
of this movement of the people? Have you read his 
masterly discussion of the principle and poliey of 
(government during his recent tour through the West? 
A Republican from the beginning, liis fidelity to its 
cardinal principles cannot be impeached. As a con- 
spicuous cliampiou of auti-slavery through all the long 
years of political and military struggle, which ended 
in emancipation, he is the friend of the freedmau, and 
his devotion to their protection will not be questioned. 
So, too, he is the special representative and friend of 
amnesty and complete reconciliation between the 
North and the South. He saw at a glance that it was 
both impossible and unjust to continue the proscrip- 
tion of our own kith and kin. He was one ot the enr- 
liest to proclaim that with the secure triumph of 
the Union the bitterness of tlie strife should cease, 
and the warring sections come together in fraternal 
regard. His spotless purity and integrity of character 
liave been proverbial throughout a civil cai-eer un- 
matched in the history of the country. JVo other 
name appeals with more force and favor to the great 
tieart of the American people. A workingman him- 
self, he has ever been the friend of tliose who labor, 
and iias sought to elevate the industrial iiHerest,-) of 
his country. So, whatever view we take, ho becomes 
the recognized and well-deserving leader of our re- 
form movement. So, too, I may speak of our excel- 
lent candidate for Governor. All over the State the 
name of Francis Kernan is synonymous with integ- 
rity of character, sound judgment, and acknowledged 
ability. Thosoassooiated with them upon the National 
andStatc tickets command our warmest approval, and 
all our local nominations also deserve earnest and 
hearty support. If our efforts are crowned with suc- 
cess, of wiiich we have reason to be encouraged, it is 
not too much to predict for civil administration anew 
an'l brighter career of honor, and for the peop'e in« 
creased" prosperity and peace. 



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